Hooked
by fAil3deXper1ment
Summary: Jasper and Lapis go on their week-long Senior Retreat form Diamond High to Beach City. What's lurking in these waters may either hold an unreal secret or the ticket to someone's demise... or maybe both. ((I have a whole basic idea, start to finish, typed up already though I'm willing to tweak it if I get feedback. The more interest this gets, the faster I'll crank out chapters.))
1. Manatee

"Come on, hun! We are going to be late and you'll miss the bus." Her mother yelled up the stairs.

"I know, hold on! I'm just grabbing a few last things I forgot." _Sketchbook, check. Copic markers, check. Phone charger, check. Swimsuit, check. Wait, should I go with the one piece or two piece?... Ha, yeah. She'll get a kick out of my new one. Two piece_ _it is._  
Finally she stuffed her suitcase full; having to sit on it to zip it closed. Record time! She packed everything in (checking her phone) 13 minutes. Not too shabby.

"Lapis! Hurry up! I'm going to wait in the car for you..."

Lapis heard her mother shut the front door and rolled her eyes. _Ladies and gentlemen, the drama queen of the household._ She tugged her luggage off her bed and rolled out the door, looking down the hallway. "Later sis. Be good for mom, ok?"

The slender brunette teen with her bangs covering her eyes replied, "Coming from the one who keeps bringing home animals all the time. What won't you bring home?"

"Hey, most of them are hurt or lost. I can't help it. I'm a bleeding heart."

"Exactly. I suspect you'll come home with a manatee this time."

"And I'll name it after you." Lapis stuck her tongue out at her baby sister with a grin which earned her a pleasant groan from the other.  
The artist dragged her suitcase down the stairs and out the front entrance, tossing it into the backseat of their old Ford. She hopped into the passenger seat and buckled up, glancing over at her mom who was playing that stupid game again. "Really?"

"Ssh, I'm just reached level 64." Azul Lazuli hushed her eldest as she tapped the virtual fish to the beat of the catchy tune.

Lapis just shook her head. "It's a garbage game. The graphics and music are shit plus it becomes pay-to-play after the 15th level with the add-on songs, levels and different fish."

Azul huffed and put her phone down, starting the vehicle and backing out of the driveway. "So let me guess, you didn't pack the night before like I suggested and that's what took you so long?"

"It only took me, like, 15 minutes to pack though." Lapis really didn't want to talk about this right now.

"And the other 20 minutes was you on the computer again?"

"Well I had to email my queue list to my phone and check my sites again. I'm going to get a few of my traditional commissions done if I can."

Mrs. Lazuli sighed, "if you were only half as organized as you are with your online art thing, your grades might not be slipping like they are right now."

"Mom... please can we not do this right now?" The artist groaned and slouched into her seat.

They listened to the radio instead on the way, commenting on the over-played songs or occasionally swapping gossip about their jobs and co-workers driving them up the wall.

"Thanks for the ride! See you in a week!" Lapis shut the car door.

Azul waved with a smile and drove off.

"Finally decided to show up, Laprick?"

She smiled sweetly and wheeled around on her heel to meet the towering wide receiver of the Diamond High Dolphins. "I'm just fashionably late as always, Assper."

The football player smirked and pulled her friend into a big hug before looking around quickly for any prying eyes and planting a kiss on the shorter girl's forehead. "Why didn't you call or text me last night, hun?"

Lapis giggled at the smooch and tried to hug back as tightly as she could. "Sorry babe, I fell asleep before 10:00 PM I guess. I must have slept through my alarm again."

"You need to keep your phone off of vibrate so you can actually hear the alarm next time." She picked up her girlfriend's bag and carried it with her own duffel bag.

Lazuli chuckled, "Nah. We both know why I keep it on vibrate all the time so that won't happen any time soon."

The gentle giant's face turned red as they walk up to the busses lined up outside the school entrance. She playfully nudges Lapis who laughed at this. "Shut up."

"Lapis? Oh good, you're here! I was beginning to worry you wouldn't show up." The large woman with long curly hairstyle gleefully spoke, Rose Quartz Universe, their homeroom teacher. "Goodness, you dyed your hair again. You chose such a lovely shade of blue this time too."

"Thank you, Mrs. Universe. Jasper helped me pick this one out a while ago and I finally put it in last night."

The teacher nodded and turned to the crowd of students, holding the form and repeating it for the last time. "Alright everyone, eyes on me please. This year's Senior Retreat is being held in Beach City at the Ocean Inn. Students are allowed to walk around Beach City with a buddy but please be careful. Make sure your phones are charged in case you run into any trouble." She continued but already most of the students had tuned out of course.

Lapis jumped when she felt someone jab their fingers into her sides. She whipped around to find herself glaring at none other than Amethyst, the class clown. "Just you wait, I'll get you next time at the worst possible moment."

The shorter girl snickered, "Right. You've been saying that since we met in grade 10, dude. I'm still waiting."

"One of these days someone is going to end up hurt between the three of you rough-housing all the time."

"Good morning to you too, Pearl." Jasper nodded to the honors student.

Ame wrapped her arm around Pearl's waist and— NOPE, she ripped her arm down fast to her side as Mrs. Universe turned to the friends to hush them.

Rose faced ahead again and concluded her speech, "And finally, now that everyone is here, let's board our designated busses and be off. Adventure awaits!"

 **Ladies and gentlemen, understatement of the year.**


	2. Ocean Inn

Jasper put all of their luggage into the luggage compartment of their designated bus. After a few moments of struggling, and maybe shaking the whole vehicle a bit more than she would have liked, she finally crammed Amethyst's oversized baggage in. She shook her head and climbed up the entrance stairs, walking down the aisle to find her seat next to her favorite little troublemaker. She raised an eyebrow with her hands on her hips when she found that same troublemaker sitting with her feet up across Jasper's spot. "Really?"

Lapis looked up from her phone- writing an email from the looks of it -and smiled at the her tall teddy bear.

Jasper nodded as no words were necessary. She grabbed Lapis under her arms, lifting her above her head and sat in her own seat, placing her girlfriend in her lap. "Answering one of your clients?"

Lazuli kicked the middle armrest to flip up and laid across the seats; her head in the other's lap. "Yup. I want to get his traditional picture done by Wednesday but he forgot a few details when he filled out my form yesterday."

Jasper hummed in response; gently ran her fingers through those soft cobalt locks.

They spent a couple minutes in content silence as more students crowded onto the bus. That's when they both heard that familiar theme song.

Lapis jumped up in her seat and Jasper simply looked back over the top of her's as Pearl held her phone, playing that game called _Oh My Cod!_ much to Lapis' dislike.

She looked up from her game at her audience with some confusion, "… yes?"

Lapis squinted her eyes, "You too, huh?"

Jasper lit up with excitement, pulling out her own device and tapping the app after unlocking the screen. "Oh, what level are you on?"

The honors student beamed at the football player, "I'm on level 72."

"Level 43 for me. I can't get past the weird change in tempo near the end of the song. Could you tell me how you did it?"

"Certainly! Um, let's see... how did it go again?"

As the two happily chattered away, Lapis stared at Jasper, stunned into silence. Her glare shot to the latino chick sitting next to Pearl who butted into the conversation shortly after.

"P, guess what level I'm on."

The pale girl was hesitant to ask, "Which level?"

Shifting her eyebrows suggestively as she spoke, "Level 69." Amethyst snorted as she laughed at Pearl's groan.

Jasper chuckled too and turned to Lapis who was oddly quiet, "Is everything ok?"

The others turned to the blunette as she glanced between her friends. She slowly sunk down into her seat as she dragged on the word "Traitorssssss..."

The clown snorted at the action while Ms. Straight-A's was wildly confused and turned to Jasper for an explanation.

Jasper rolled her eyes, "Yeah, she doesn't like the game. She thinks it's a waste of time."

A tan hand shot up next to the former with an index finger pointed to the ceiling, "Don't get me started on the art quality."

The three app owners knitted their brows towards the strange child and continued on with their conversation. It was cut short by Mrs. Universe who stood at the front of the bus, talking about when lunch and dinner should be, the time they should arrive at the inn and finally that roommates would be decided when they reach their destination in around 4 hours. Soon after, they finally took off down the road.

Jasper was pleased after passing the level with Pearl's help and soon found the mop of blue hair back in her lap for a quick nap. With the troublemaker out of commission, the ride was fairly quiet and uneventful.

xXx

Lapis sat up slowly with a yawn and stretched as she awoke finally. "What time is it?"

"9:48 AM." Jasper snorted and tried to stroke down the hair sticking up from the other's rest. Lapis looked like a certain blue hedgehog. "We are about 20 minutes or so away from Beach City."

"Cool." The hedgehog mumbled before lowering her chin down into her crossed arms on her girlfriend's lap again.

"If you fall asleep again, you'll really mess up your sleeping pattern."

Lapis huffed, "One tiny nap won't do too much. I just need to do some exercise before tonight and I'll be fine." That's when she shot up and had her face inches away from her partner. "We should totally go swimming in the ocean together!"

Jasper's face slightly contorted with discomfort, "No thanks, count me out. I don't like water, remember? My hair also takes forever to dry."

Lapis raised a brow, "Same when you shower."

"Except showers are a must. I'm a civilized hooman, thank you." She pecked the artist's nose with a tiny smooch.

Lapis hummed and dropped the subject. There was no way she was getting Jasper to change her mind on the idea so they sat back and mindlessly conversed about whatever they could think about which wasn't a whole lot that they haven't talked about by now.

xXx

Upon their arrival, the students were all rather shocked at how small this 'city' was in person as they came down Beach City Highway. (Amethyst had joked that there must be, like, 15 people living here.)

After they pulled up into the parking lot of Ocean Inn, the students grabbed their luggage and Ms. Universe's TA spoke up.

"Can I have everyone's attention this way, please." The kids turned to Ms. Garnet, "We're going to make this quick before lunch. I'll be announcing everyone's roommates now so you can take your things to your rooms."

Pearl and Jasper listened intently while Amethyst and Lapis were giggling away at something.

"Dude, do it."

"No way, Puma. _You_ do it."

"Chicken!" Ame whispered loudly.

Lapis grinned and lifted the palm of her hand to her mouth, turning back to face the TA though froze as the tall, intimidating figure was standing right in front of her. She blinked before she licked her palm and slicked back her bangs and gave Garnet two finger guns with a wink. "Ms. Garnet! 'Eyyy, how's it going?"

"I would be alright if you two would listen up otherwise I will have to put you and Sasha together again like I did on the ski trip. Do you understand?"

Lapis shuddered as she remembered the ski trip. There was a very solid reason why no one talked about THAT get-away. Visions of _the accident_ played again in her mind. "Yes ma'am."

"Good. Now you and Amethyst will be roommates in room #28. Pearl, you are with Jasper again in room #27." The apathetic woman checked off something on her clipboard.

The four friends nearly flinched in unison.

"Hold on, can I switch with Jasper? Ya know, this is the last trip and all. I want to share my room with my... best friend!"

Pearl nodded, "I agree. In fact, Jasper snores like a wildebeest." She felt those eyes stare at her for a second before the mentioned got a word in too.

"And Pearl talks in her sleep. Last time I swear she was reciting Shakespeare backwards or some other mumbo-jumbo."

Pearl frowned at Jasper who sneered back. "Shakespeare is not 'mumbo-jumbo'."

Ms. Garnet silenced the bickering teens and sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Alright, alright. Jasper is with Lapis in room #27 and Pearl is with Amethyst room #28. I will inform Ms. Universe of the switch-up."

The girls ran off quickly before the TA could change her mind after taking their respective keys. Lapis beat Ame to their room first. After Pearl and Jasper caught up, they entered their rooms to get settled for the week.

Lapis kicked off her shoes by the door and belly flopped on the first bed. "This isn't so bad."

Jasper put the bags down by the small couch by the small entertainment set-up with a small flat screen on it. Jasper hushed the bluenette and listened for a second. Waiting for something... and it came.

Pearl shrieked in the other room. Something about a bug on the window and how gross it was with all of its legs and nasty little eyes and **OH MERCY, IT FLIES.**

The wide receiver howled with laughter as Lapis just sat on the bed, gawking at her and questioned how the big girl knew that was coming. "She always found something wrong with the hotel rooms we stayed in before. Ame is in for one heck of a week."

Lazuli snorted with a giggle. "Wow, I'm glad I was never her default roomie then. That would drive me nuts."

Jasper plugged in her phone charger and chuckled. "Oh boy, you don't even know the half of it when it comes to Pearl and how everything has to be perfectly tidy. Poor Ame."

Lunch came around 15 minutes later and most of the day was spent with a quick tour around Beach City. Safety procedures were addressed and phone numbers were exchanged once again. By the time everything was finally said and done, it was 10:07 PM and it was lights out. Well, for all the teens except for one whose nap earlier had her wide awake. Also an energy drink or two maybe.

Jasper climbed into her bed with a yawn and hugged her pillow. She turned over and squinted at the source of the noise.

Lapis stood up, holding her new bikini with a smirk.

Jasper yawned again, rubbing the tears from her eyes. "You can't tell me you're going for a swim right now."

"You can bet your fine ass I am! We're right next to the ocean, Jasper! I HAVE to go swimming and I don't want to wait any longer. I need to waste some of this crazy energy too so there's just no better way."

Jasper blushed and turned back quickly to face away as her girlfriend began to change in the middle of the room. "But who is going with you? I'm not a very good swimmer so if you got in trouble out there... hun, it's too dangerous. Go tomorrow, ok?"

"I won't be able to sleep and you know it. Besides, it's only like a 20 minute walk over to the beach from here. I'll be fine."

Jasper clung to her pillow tighter. "I don't know..."

"I have your number on speed dial and I'll see if Puma is still up. Does that help?"

"… a little but I'm still worried." She jumped when she felt slender fingers run over her muscular shoulder.

"Or... we-"

"No, I'm still not ready yet." The taller of the two cut her girlfriend short as she pushed her face into the pillow, her cheeks burning.

Lapis chuckled and leaned down, leaving a kiss on her teddy bear's cheek. "No rush, babe. I understand. Sorry I asked."

Jasper hummed into her pillow, still flustered.

"I'll be back in 2 hours sharp. If I'm not back by then, I'll text you." Lapis threw her regular clothes on again over her swimsuit and walked over to the door with her towel around her neck.

The football player lifted her face quickly. "Is your phone charged?"

"Yup! See you in a bit, babe. Love ya!" The artist was out the door before Jasper could get in a response.

Jasper laid there in the lonesome dark and drew in a deep breath. "Love you too. Stay safe." She reached over and grabbed her phone, placing it on the mattress next to her head. Exhaustion hit her in barely a few minutes; she was out like a light.

xXXxXXx

(( **Thanks for the comments on the first chapter!** I'm actually surprised anyone gave this a chance and I'm honestly very flattered. I felt the first chapter was too short so I tried to make this one longer to make up for it. I already have the contents of chapter 3 thought up so that one will be following shortly too. THAT'S WHEN THE REAL FUN BEGINS! PLEASE tell me if I have a character OOC and I'll try to correct that in the future chapters for damn sure. Also I'll go back and fix spelling or grammar errors too.  
Again, thank you so much for reading! I'm open to suggestions or questions. :D Also I have this fantastic idea for my Pearlmethyst readers later on.))


	3. Malachite

_Tap, tap..._ _scroll... tap._

Soft tunes of a popular movie theme began to play as she tucked her phone into her breast pocket. Lapis walked down the dimly-lit street while admiring the stars tonight. In the state of Keystone, one couldn't see them too well so this was a real treat for her. Beach City didn't have a whole lot to do like Keystone had to offer... but it had its nice little perks.

She frowned and took this time to think about something she had been putting off for too long now. The artist thought about her girlfriend and their failing relationship. Lapis could tell Jasper was slowly losing interest and so was she. They had been together for about... shoot, 4 or 5 years now? It's been a while and they both had put so much effort into their relationship that neither of them wanted to break things off. Lapis was too stubborn to give up yet and Jasper was so emotionally invested still.

With a long sigh, she ran her fingers through her hair then rubbed the back of her neck. So much fighting, pain, sweat and tears. How could either of them drop this? She did love Jasper and vise versa, there was no argument there. Lazuli thought back with half a smile. She remembered Jasper's chubby little cheeks... the football player was still large for her age but she was still a chunky and adorable 5th grader. Well, besides the fact that dork was once her bully or was it the other way around? It went both ways.

xXx

As the boy hit the floor of the lunch room, the bully loomed over her victim. Jasper Quartz. Of course, who else?

A small, dark-haired girl watched with little interest. Nothing new. No teacher in sight but a poster nearby about anti-bullying. Lapis scoffed at it, turning back to her PB&J sandwich with the crusts cut off. She took another mouthful and continued to read her social textbook. Yet again, trying to finish her homework just before next class. Someone grabbed her shoulder and whipped her chair around to face them. Lapis' sleep-deprived eyes lifted to meet her classmate, Jordan Zircon. He had a black eye. Again.

"I'm sick of this and the teachers never do anything about her. Lapis, I need you to do something about that jerk!"

"… What's in it for me though? Give me a good reason to help you against someone almost three times my size. What do you think I could I do to her anyways that wouldn't have her want to kill me?" She took another bite and chewed slowly.

"You're a master at pulling pranks on teachers and other kids without getting caught, right? Could you do something like that to Jasper?"

She could but that would still have Jasper after her. Everyone knew who the biggest prankster in school was besides the staff. After swallowing quickly, "Again, what's in it for me?" Lapis inwardly groaned as Jordan hesitated. The idiot hadn't even considered what he might offer her for her... service. The idea was a bit exciting though. Jasper had never picked on her but the slacker was still tired of watching the big girl get away with picking on others.

"What do you want?"

A moment of silence as she kept eye contact and bit into her food again, watching the battered student impatiently squirm as she thought about it. "I want...", gulp, "I want your shiny Blastoise card for one prank."

"What?! No, I'm not giving that up!"

Lapis shrugged and turned back to her textbook. She smiled a little when she heard the boy speak up again.

"Fine. But make it a _good_ one and really big. Make her suffer."

Lapis got the card the next day and started on her plans and preparations with enthusiasm. Other students had heard rumors about something going down... it wasn't long after that Lapis had more of Jasper's prey coming to her. Things were getting far more interesting than she had expected.

xXx

The lunch room doors burst open and Jasper strolled in with her posse. The smile on her face slowly faded as she glanced around the room... at all of the grins and seeing others laughing or trying not to.

"The fuck are you all staring at?!" She finally noticed two huge stretchy straps on either side of the double doors behind her. Now she was a little worried but she hardly showed it.

"Hey Assper, how fast can you run?!"

Jasper's glare whipped up to the girl standing on the table, struggling to hold back a large bucket attached to those straps.

Her posse scattered out of the way while Jasper jumped and reeled back, pure terror written all over her face.

Lapis let the bucket go and watched the beauty of her labor come to its climax before her eyes.

Jasper had already started to run away down the hallway but that bucket of orange paint collided with her back too fast, sending her flying and smashing her face into the floor. That was the day the bully's nose broke.

Was this overkill? Absolutely. Did Jasper deserve this? Definitely not this. Why was Lapis doing this in the open? Well the lazy teachers weren't around and she was given so many shiny cards at this point, why hide? Lapis was a very cruel child back then, she would admit that much.

Jasper had told the teachers about what had happened but nearly the entire student body defended Lapis so she was never found out. From then on, things became an ugly battle between Jasper and Lapis. A struggle for dominance. This was war.

xXx

"RUNT!"

Lapis froze on the playground and turned to the towering girl stomping her way. She stood her ground, hands in her pockets and smirked at the cute bandages over Jasper's mangled nose. "See you later, Ame."

"Yeah, if you're still alive." Amethyst took off quickly.

"Did you put those fucking slugs in my fucking sandwich, you sick little-"

"Oh yeah, I thought you could use more protein in your diet. I heard you were working out so I'm just trying to hel-URK"

Jasper grabbed Lapis by the collar of her sweatshirt and lifted her off her feet. "How about I break your fucking nose, huh? How about you see how painful this is and then maybe you'll think twice next time."

The slacker struggled in the bully's grasp. "Dude, if I swore as much as you do, my mom would chop my tongue off! Ugh, and your breath... you really enjoyed those slugs, didn't you?"

xXx

"I fell backwards off my chair again at home and hit my face on my dresser." The massive purple mark on her swollen cheek pulsed with every word. She was glad she didn't lose any teeth this time.

The adult groaned and rubbed his face. "Lapis... if someone is still beating you up..."

She didn't have time or the patience for this. "Well let me tell you about my sister again because-"

"Don't. Save it. Look. I want to help you if someone is hurting you."

 _'No, no you don't. You're saying that because you have to. You never even bother to call my mom when this happens.'_ Lapis shrugged at the man. "Well I don't know what to tell you then."

"Fine. Off to class."

The prankster stood with her backpack and left the principal's office. In all honesty, she never sold out Jasper because she was enjoying what they had. It was a rush and was something to take her frustrations out on. Her parents were always busy with their stupid jobs or doting on her baby sister. No one liked Jasper so she was really doing everyone a favor, right? She was the good guy here. Yeah.

Dead wrong.

A week later, Jasper finally snapped after the firecrackers taped to the underside of her desk went off during Math class. Their instructor was still shocked and trying to understand what the heck had just happened as the rest of the class laughed and taunted the bully. Jasper got up in tears and left the room. Her work-out sessions had paid off since no one could catch up to her or even find her for that matter.

Lapis wasn't in that class with Jasper so she wasn't held in the classroom. During the confusion and the adults leaving to talk about the incident, the slacker snuck out of the room. She knew the other students would cover for her.

And she knew exactly where Jasper had ran off to. She snuck up to find the monster hiding in the gym storage room. Usually she walked in on the other beating the punching bag in the corner of the room but this time she was surprised to find her hunched over in an ugly sob. "Wow, did I really catch you _that_ off guard this time?"

Jasper didn't turn to the other and cried harder. Was she... shaking?

Lapis' blood ran cold and she swallowed. "Hey, wait." She didn't want to say it but, "I'm sorry, ok?"

"Can't you just leave me alone already? I get it. You want me dead too. I got that months ago." Her words were a little tough to make out through her hiccups and wheezing.

Her heart sunk into the pit of her stomach and she stood in the entrance of the storage room like the fool she was. There was no way Lapis was the good guy here. She never wanted Jasper to die but she had heard about the stories of kids taking their lives because they were bullied. _Shit, I'm the bully..._

"Jasper, I..."

"I don't want to hear it."

"Please, just listen to me for a second."

Jasper drew in a long breath and hugged herself tighter. She stayed silent though angled her head enough to look back at her bully with a lost stare. Her face soaked with pain.

Shutting the door behind her and turning on the light, Lapis sat across from the sad heap by the punching bag. "I didn't mean to run you into the ground like this. I thought you could take it."

Jasper let out a grim chuckle. "You don't know me. No one does."

"Yeah, because you're such an ass to everyone. You beat up any kid who tries to walk past you so no one wants to get to know you. Can you blame them?"

Jasper turned her head back to the wall in front of her. "Because... Because I'm scared of them. I was picked on up until grade 4 when I finally stood up for myself. All because I'm... fat."

"Uh, well I don't think becoming the bully counts as standing up to your bullies. It doesn't work that way."

"Speak for yourself."

"… True enough." She wiped her sweaty palms on her pants and moved closer, "I don't hate you or anything like that, ok? I was being really stupid and let the popularity get to my head. I thought I was a hero."

Jasper finally calmed down and wiped her face on her sleeve before turning to face the other. "I thought I was a hero too for beating the snot out of my bullies. But you're right; It doesn't work that way."

"Can I make it up to you somehow? I... really do feel bad for how I've treated you."

Jasper just shrugged. "You fucked up my nose. How could I ever forgive you for that?"

The slacker took a moment to think. "How about we get out of here."

"What?"

"Have you ever skipped school before?"

"N-no."

Lapis smiled and snorted a little, "Are you serious? You big loser, come on. Let's go to the mall by city center and just hang out for the day. If anyone asks, I'll make something up on the spot."

The larger of the two turned her head slightly and looked over the shorter girl like she was crazy, "Why should I trust you?"

"I don't blame you if you don't and never will trust me but I do want to make it up to you somehow so I need to start somewhere, right? Just give me one chance to try."

xXx

Admiring the rolling waves in the moonlight, Lapis closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled the salty breeze. What a beautiful night it was. She really did feel crumby that her girlfriend hadn't come along though but that was fine. She'd drag her down her one day and push her in a shallow part. Good enough.

xXXxXXx

((Sorry for the massive delay. Three of my biggest inspirations for this stopped updating, I've been struggling to keep my job against a manager out to fire me, and I've been switched to graveyard shift after I got to keep my job so my sleeping schedule has been incredibly screwed up. This isn't the chapter I've been meaning to type as I've been going on about. This is more of a vent for myself and also Jasp and Lap's backstory because I wanted to get it out of the way. I want to finish the next chapter soon but I make no promises when I can get that done. This story will be finished though; that I do promise. Still, thank you a thousand times for reading this! Sorry this chapter was kind of a bummer but the next one –for real this time- will be GOOD. Last thing: If I really have to or enough people say that this chapter is waaay too out of place or enough people ask, I'll delete this chapter or re-write it. I'm not entirely pleased with it because of the negativity and junk but this is how my Jasper and Lapis met.))


	4. Fish Pun

Soft, cool sand between her toes as she walked along the empty beach and gazed out at the rippling tide. The briny breeze whisked away her previous anxiety. Lapis padded across the shore in a lazy search of a nice spot to leave her towel and clothing.

After a few moments more, the artist found herself not far from the Beach City Visitor Center. This was as good a place as any so she tossed her towel aside and stretched. As she touched her toes, a familiar sound went off.

"About time!" Lapis beamed as she plucked her jacket off the beach and dug out her phone. Unlocking it and tapping one of her apps hidden in the farthest reaches of her full selection, the theme song played as it loaded up. "Come on, momma Lappy needs her some swordfish." She checked her tokens and grinned when she saw she finally had enough for the most expensive theme, Swordfish Samba. Best theme in the _Oh My Cod!_ she would argue... of course though she wouldn't. She just couldn't. Not even Jasper knew she had this artistic atrocity on her mobile but damn it, was this game ever _addicting_. Lapis' excitement was crushed when she opened the in-game store to find the price for her theme had risen for the second time. "Are you serious right now?"

She was furious! It had taken her almost a full month of countless rage quits and sore thumbs to get to this point. Lapis was so close and her theme was yanked from her grasp. AGAIN. "Agh! Stupid game. Why do I still play this crap?!" The phone was thrown into her jacket and the swimmer returned to her stretching. "Who makes shit like that anyways? I'd love to meet this asshole and what I would give to just..." Lapis continued to curse the confounded app and its creator. There was no reason in getting pissed off though. Lapis knew she'd go back to playing it again soon enough and claim that theme for herself.

She finished her stretches quickly, standing straight and lifted her shirt over her head. She glanced down at herself and admired her swimsuit. With a hum, she remembered that her girlfriend didn't get a real chance to see it. The thought of that was a little disappointing because Lapis knew her ass looked good in this. Unf. She wanted to picture the wide receiver rushing and pinning her against a random, huge rock on the beach with her nice, hulking arms, just out of the public eye and... whoa! Hold on there, cowgirl. Still on a public beach here! Lapis touched her forehead with a low groan as she brought herself back to reality. Jasper wouldn't be that bold anyways.

Lapis unbuckled her shorts and slid them off. As she was about to drop them next to her jacket, a glint off of something in the water caught her eye. When she turned to looked, she shrieked. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" And covered herself up in record time.

Head poking up from the water a slight distance from the shore, someone wearing broken goggles watched. It was the reflection of the moon off of the eyewear as the person bobbed with the gentle waves.

"Who the fuck are you?! Where you watching me get undressed, you sick pervert?! Get out of here!"

They didn't answer but they scowled as the word "pervert" left the artist's lips. They turned and receded into the depths.

Wow. Lapis was not ok with this. She growled and clenched her teeth, snatched her things from the sand as she started to walk back to the hotel. There was no way she was swimming with some creepy freak.

It wasn't until she reached halfway off the beach that Lapis found herself looking back. That person wasn't coming out of the water and they still hadn't resurfaced. She checked her phone and it had been long enough. Creepy freak or not, her lifeguard senses were tingling. She may be away on vacation right now but a life potentially being in danger was not something she could allow herself to ignore. Honestly this jerk was likely no different from the stupid little boys regularly visiting her pool. They would fake drowning just to get her to drag them out and play dead for mouth-to-mouth. Ugh.

Grumbling, she dropped her things and ran back to the shore. After kicking her sandals to the side, Lapis waded into the deep water as quickly as she could and dove in. The salt water stung her eyes as she looked around but really started to worry as she saw no one at all. Nothing. 'Shit, shit, shit! Please don't do this to me right now!' Was the person swept out in the current? Did they sink like a rock? She looked further out and was only met by darkness. Holy shit, did they actually drown and get swallowed by the ocean? Lapis began to panic.

Whatever it was, it hit her stomach like a bullet train. Any air in her lungs was lost as it swiftly pushed her towards the shore. Lapis sputtered as she broke the surface of the water and was repelled into the sand. Coughing and wheezing as she held her poor mid-section. "God damn it..."

"May I suggest learning to swim first before jumping in next time? It might help to prevent something we like to call 'drowning'." An irritated and nasally voice came from the shallow water.

Lapis lowered her blurry gaze as she recovered her breath. It was the Goggles the pervert. Of course. Lapis groaned. "I know how to swim perfectly fine, thanks. You didn't have to knock the wind out of me though." She was angry but more so baffled. Not even her largest co-worker could swim that fast and with such power. Goggles looked like a kid up close at best. "I didn't see you come up so I thought something happened. I was coming to save _your_ ass from drowning."

Goggles lifted their broken eyewear to rub an eye. "I wouldn't call your flailing around swimming and I can't drown, thank you very much. I don't need anyone to save my ass from anything."

Lapis sat up and glared at Goggles. "Anyone can drown, dumbass. The ocean is no place for a kid and at night too with no one around to call for help if the tide drags you out." As if she was one to talk really.

Goggles settled their eyewear on their forehead and squinted at Lapis with a sigh. "You must have water in your ears still because you obviously didn't hear me. I don't need anyone to save me. And I don't need anyone lecturing me either. Now if you will excuse me, I'm going back to sleep. Please go home." Goggles turned to leave but paused when the lifeguard stopped them.

"Wait! Hold it, before you leave, I just have a question."

Goggles hesitated but growled as they turned back. "What is it?"

"How did you swim that fast? You don't even look taller than me and my boss at my lifeguard job can't even go half as fast as that and he's a retired Olympic athlete."

Goggles squinted as they shot Lapis a look, their bare shoulders hunched forward a bit with unease. "Because... I'm not like you."

Lapis frown. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Goggles didn't answer.

"Please? It's all I want to know."

"I'm a... well, I'm not human."

A smirk crept across the lifeguard's lips, "Right but seriously."

Annoyance worked its way into Goggles' tone easily. "I am being serious! I'm not human!"

"Alright, kid. I'll humor you but you have to prove it."

The other grimaced for a second before grinning. A rather large splash of salt water flew over Goggles' head and hit Lapis.

She wiped off her face to open her eyes again but something behind her little savior caught her attention.

A big, green fin. A fish fin. What. The. Fuck.

All she could do was gawk at it without a single word to be found. Lapis was absolutely... sure this had to be some kind of joke. Yeah, this was a prank. "No way that thing is real."

"You better believe what you see now because I'm not letting you touch it."

"I can't honestly believe you then. Am I on some weird prank show or something?" Lapis glanced around for any hidden cameras.

"Negative." Goggles shifted in the shallow liquid and showed off where their midriff connected to the fishtail.

Lapis was stunned. Either their makeup artist was a real movie-level professional or she was hallucinating as she was drowning in the ocean. The artist noticed something; a smaller green fin that stuck out of the side of Goggles' head who picked at one their scales on their tail. She reached and touched it. It surprisingly warm.

As the creature whipped her head back to the human, Lapis reeled her hand to her chest and slunk back. This wasn't a joke. She could hear her heart pounding over the waves lapping at the shore.

It sure didn't help at all when that creature's eyes narrowed into slits, sizing her up while squinting again.

"I said no touching!"

"Ah, I... um, sorry." Lapis tried to swallow the knot in her throat.

Goggles was silent for a moment longer before placing their eyewear on properly again. "I don't approach humans often. The theatrical entertainment you have can be rather... disturbing. Consider yourself lucky."

Right, that probably meant the old alien movies were humans captured and dissected... Lapis wrinkled her brow. "How do you know anything about movies? You're a... I mean, how would you even be able to see a movie?"

"The internet, duh." Goggles scoffed.

"How is that even possible?"

"I have my ways."

"Like...?"

With a sigh, "It's too much to explain at this time of night. You woke me up with all of your screaming."

"Screaming?"

"I heard the theme of _Oh My Cod!_ playing so I came up to check out what was going on and you started screaming about something." Their expression turned sour, "You started going on about my mobile game being shit so I couldn't help but glare at you because I worked my ass off on that application for months! The music is easy enough to create but the code behind the actual game mechanics is not-"

"Stop right there! Hold on!"

Goggles growled as they were interrupted but held their tongue.

"Your app?"

"Affirmative. I am the asshole you wanted to meet earlier."

Lapis rubbed her face as she realized how tired she really was and from being overwhelmed. The mermaid was tech-savvy. This was turning into one hell of a night. "You're pulling my leg..."

"I'm not even touching you."

"What? No, it's a figure of speech."

"How bizarre but I see now. English isn't my native tongue. I learnt what I know from the internet."

That explained a few things. "I have too many questions."

"And not enough time." Goggles stretched and yawned. "I used up the last bit of energy I could muster from hauling your heavy ass out of the water. Can we continue this tomorrow maybe?"

"Can we?" Lapis perked up, rather surprised Goggles had even offered the idea at all.

The other's expression shifted as if they just realized what they said. They locked eyes with the lifeguard and took a moment to respond.

"It's up to you. I won't tell anyone about you, I promise."

"You promise?"

"You have my word." Lapis put her hand over her heart and raised the other with an open palm.

Sizing her up once more, Goggles nodded finally. "Very well then. Tomorrow at 2300 hours sharp."

"Uh..."

"11:00 PM."

"I knew that. Cool so, yeah. See you tomorrow night!" Lapis stood up, "By the way, what's your name?"

"Peridot Olivine of the Rehoboth Bay Clan."

"… I'll just call you Peri. I'm Lapis Lazuli... of the... Lazuli Clan."

Peridot huffed at the nickname but allowed it. "Then I will call you Lazuli."

"Fair enough. Catch you tomorrow, man. Sleep well."

"I will, thanks and... I'm a female."

"Right, sorry. Later!"

They parted ways, Peridot returning to the water and Lapis picking up her items on the way back to the sidewalk again. Checking her phone, it was well past the time she promised Jasper she would send her a quick text. She decided to take her chances and say she forgot (and that wasn't a lie). Hopefully Jasper was still sleeping so she could get off scotch-free.

xXx

Lapis snuck into the room as quietly as she could. She peaked around the corner to find Jasper's bed empty. Her heart stopped as she heard the washroom door open behind her.

Luck seriously wasn't on her side tonight, was it?

xXXxXXx

((This is very late for too many reasons and I never want to go on hiatus like that again. I don't like to keep people waiting. This chapter was alright but just one I wanted to get done. It's not really funny so my treat is the next chapter is going to be chalked with puns, jokes and... you're all going to hate me by the end of it. I'll put it that way. XD _It's a Jasper special because she needs more love!_ _ALSO I just want to say that I'm usually not a fan of mermaid stories ever but I pull a large chunk of my inspiration from the SU fanfic "A Week in Beach City" by Rintrash on AO3._))

((Again, if a character is OOC, you see any mistakes, know ways I can improve, or something doesn't make sense... just let me know. You don't want to know how much time I put into doing research on the canon SU universe/map/characters, actual rocks and their meanings and all that jazz for this fanfic. Too much sweat and tears put into this to allow it to simply be mediocre. It's certainly not a must **but feedback and comments are extremely appreciated! Thanks for reading and please keep checking back for updates!** ))

((Enjoy it while you can.))


	5. Talk to Me

She drew in a long breath and pushed herself up on her hands, arching her back as she spine cracked. She had slept better before but she couldn't complain. Her last roommate could bring down a house when she started to snore. Ugh, a certain salty stench assaulted her poor nose though.

Stepping out of bed and groggily making her way to the bathroom, rubbing her eyes before she took a look at the damage in the mirror. Jasper grimaced at her unruly reflection staring back at her. The wild mane was undoubtedly the worst of course so she set to work on taming it after quickly washing her face and brushing her teeth. "Lapis, are you up yet?"

Silence.

"You need to shower before we meet up with everyone else. If you don't get up I'm coming in there with a cup of water."

Still nothing.

"Or I could drag you down to that car wash place on Waterman Street."

A long, dead moan came from the other room.

"Good morning." Jasper snickered with a grin as she noticed the zombie dragging her feet as she entered the doorway. "Really though, hun, you could use a long soak. I don't know how you could sleep like that."

"This is nothing. Try thinking about the chlorine water from the pool I work at. That can be tough to sleep through. The itch is worse than the stench." Lapis scratched her hip and yawned, placing a clean set of clothes on the toilet cover.

"That is just so unhygienic. Can't be good for your skin." The football player was having some trouble with her messy hair still. Her eyebrows jumped a little when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist from behind or try to at least. Jasper smiled as her gaze fell on the reflection of those small hands.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Hey, I have an idea." The artist began with that mischievous tone again.

With some hesitation and going back to wrestle her hair, "And that would be?"

"Could you help me wash my back?"

Jasper snorted followed by smirking, "Not happening. I still need to go for my run before the others wake up. Besides, you remember how long it takes to dry this mop of mine."

Lapis started to snicker. "You could skip your run and you know what they say about workouts for two..."

As she turned, she poked the shorter girl's nose. "You know what I'm going to say, Lapiss. Now get in the shower already before I toss you in myself." She placed her old, mangled brush back onto the counter.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going." The lifeguard stopped for a moment, "Hey Jasp, something came to mind that I wanted to ask."

"What's up?", picking up an hairband and stretching it with her fingers as she collected her mane into her hands.

"Do you want to go for a walk by the beach with me sometime? Ya know, before we leave. The view was really something in the moonlight. I caught myself wishing you were there with me."

Hair held in her grasp, Jasper blinked a few times at the mirror. "…you plan to push me into the water, don't you?"

"What? I was trying to be romantic! How could you think such a thing like that?"

"Because your version of 'romantic' is a shiny Charizard card for our anniversary."

Lapis pouted, "You have no idea what I had to do for that card though..."

"I still don't want to know." Jasper rolled her eyes. "I'm playing with you, hun. Cards are just your thing, not mine." The card wasn't a bad thing since she knew Lapis' collection was very special to her but Jasper had got Lapis a few copic markers that day. Almost an arm and a leg she thought. A little more than a card would have been appreciated.

Lapis grumbled, "So is that a 'no' to going for a nice walk on the beach together then?" Climbing into the shower and pulling the curtains back.

"No, not at all. I'd honestly still love to go with you." Finally finished putting her hair up, she brushed her teeth quickly and found it odd that the shower hadn't turned on by the time she finished.

"By the way."

"...yes?" She really just wanted to go for her damn run right now.

"If you really were a 'morning person' like you so proudly claim, maybe you would have noticed this."

"Huh? Noticed what?"

And with that, a piece of clothing slung over the top of the shower curtain and slapped Jasper in the face as she turned. As she peeled the silky damp fabric from her head; a little agitated that her hair was slightly disheveled again and glared at it. It was the top half of a rather small blue bikini.

Slap! She ripped the second piece off of her face too and stared at the blue bikini bottom.

Jasper dropped both as her cheeks burned. "God damn it, Lapis!"

The other laughed, "What? Oh come on, maybe I could wear them again for you later. You'd like that."

With another huff and a confident tone, "Yeah, maybe I would when we go for that walk on the beach." The smile grew on her lips quicker than wildfire as there was a pause shortly followed by the shower turning on.

xXx

After changing, Jasper grabbed one of her water bottles and stretched for a moment. Opening the window curtain before she left so Lapis hopefully wouldn't go back to bed again, her eyes noticed something over the fence. She saw a strange kid standing in the window of a house with a blue shirt or something tied about his neck. Jasper smiled and waved at him.

The boy watched and stuck out his tongue.

She raised an eyebrow as she watched him pull his tongue out and more followed like a fruit roll-up treat. Yeah, that's probably what it was. As Jasper was about to turn away, what caught her attention again was when he started to rip it up and stuck it to the window in a simple sad face.

"Uh..." Jasper smiled again nervously and gave him a thumbs up then quickly wheeled around and made tracks out of the room for her run. She made a mental note to avoid going down that street.

xXx

Amethyst shoved half a pancake in her mouth, licking the syrup from her lips. "This isn't so bad. Come on, Peaches. You shouldn't skip breakfast. You barely touched your plate!"

Pearl grimaced at her girlfriend, "… and you shouldn't talk with your mouth full. I had my fill, thank you."

Ame shrugged, "Alright, can I finish yours then?"

"Help yourself."

"AWESOME." The shorter of the duo grabbed the plate and brought it to her side.

Jasper shook her head at Ame with a smile, what a dork. She looked over at her own girlfriend in wonder. "Hey, Lapis. Are you... ok? You haven't challenged Puma to an eating contest yet." At this, everyone turned to the artist sitting next to Pearl at the table.

Lapis picked at a strawberry resting in the whipped cream on her breakfast. "Huh? Sorry what?" She looked up at her audience. "Oh, I... have a lot on my mind right now. Commissions and other stuff."

Pearl spoke up first, "Did you sleep well? I'm sure Jasper kept you up all night. I could hardly even rest at all when I was in the same room with her before."

Amethyst choked and wheezed as she teared up as she began to laugh.

Ms. Straight-A's swatted Puma on her arm, "I meant Jasper and her snoring! Stop that!"

All three were more concerned when all Lapis did was give a light chuckle.

"Do you want to talk about something?" Jasper started to wonder if this had anything to do with her comment earlier about the bikini.

"Uh, maybe later. I don't know. Let me think about it." The blue-hair girl pushed her chair away from the table and stood up, taking her plate with her. "I'm not hungry so I'm going for a walk. I'll catch up with you guys later, ok?" And she left.

Pearl and Ame glanced at the larger girl. Something was definitely up.

The football player began to sweat bullets. 'Aw shit, I screwed up somewhere, didn't I?' She thought to herself. Jasper finished her whole breakfast in record time (putting Ame's to shame) and ran off after the other. "Lap, wait up!"

The pair seated at the table exchanged glances. Yikes.

xXx

They walked down the boardwalk in silence. The shorter girl hadn't said anything since they left the inn and she was still staring at the ground.

The silence was too much for the larger of the two so she decided to poke the bear. "Are you sure you slept well?"

"Yeah, I slept alright."

"Good to know."

Awkward once more with the crashing sound of the ocean waves and seagulls in the distance. The sweltering heat wasn't helping the situation either.

"So... about that walk on the beach, huh?" Jasper thrust a thumb towards the Atlantic Ocean on their left.

"Yeah but I wanted to at night; when it's less busy too would be nice."

"That's reasonable I guess." Jasper shoved her hands into her pockets. "Ok, what did I do wrong?"

"It wasn't you. I just... I don't know how to talk about or where to start even."

"Well what's on your mind? Let me help you, hun."

Lapis stopped.

Jasper stopped a step ahead and checked back. "You're starting to scare me a little."

Lifting her head to lock eyes with her significant other, "Can you give me a until tomorrow maybe to bring it up with you? There's something I have to do first."

She looked the shorter girl up and down as she knitted her brows, "Yeah, whenever you're ready." Her mind took a nasty dive into the darkest pit it could find. More often than not, Lapis was the 'no regrets' type. With all of her teasing and Jasper not putting out once, she ran herself into a brick wall when she questioned if her girlfriend had cheated on her? Jasper shook her head and rubbed her face with one hand. 'She wouldn't. This stupid heat is getting to me. I know her better than that.'

"Doing alright, there?" Lapis piped up, tilting her head to the side.

"I just need a glass of water and some shade I think. Could we...?"

"Of course, babe."

The two walked into Fish Stew Pizza and sat in the air conditioned joint for a little while, talking about whatever they could think of. This still didn't do much to quell the big girl's anxiety of whatever was to come.

xXXxXXx

((Sorry for the wait. I'll just say I was in a very dark place for a while there and I didn't want to write anything during that time because I know it would reflect in the chapter in the worst way. I'm still not my best but I'm getting better. Still very determined to finish this and I'll keep my word to see it through to the end.))


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